Monday, December 19, 2016

New Series, New Year, New Look!

I often say I'm in the business of transformation. I'm the grand-daughter of a coal miner, the daughter of a truck driver. I've gone from first grade failure to first generation college graduate to dietitian to full-time novelist. But while some things change, others have stayed the same. I've lived in Ohio for nearly all of my life, except for a three-year jaunt in the south. I'm still married to my high school sweetheart. And I like to think that I'm still the girl who went door to door for my candidate the first time I was old enough to vote.
In my book life, Disney Hyperion developed an iconic cover brand that has persisted through two series: The Heir Chronicles and The Seven Realms. When HarperTeen bought my new series, The Shattered Realms, the designers developed a similar brand for the new series, as we were eager to reassure loyal readers that they could look forward to more of what they loved before.

The Heir Chronicles

The Seven Realms

Shattered Realms Original Covers
After ten books, it's confusing. When I'm at a bookfest, behind a table stacked with all of the books in my various series, newbie readers look them over and say, Is that all one series? And, Where do I start? Because the books are not always numbered on the covers, readers don't know if a book is the start of a new series or the continuation of an old one. Maybe--just maybe--it was time for a change.


              Coming January 4, 2017
       A New look for the Shattered Realms!

So the design team at HarperTeen put their heads together and decided to launch a new look for the new Shattered Realms series -- beginning with the paperback Flamecaster and continuing with the hardback Shadowcaster. This time, we decided to showcase some of my kick-ass characters--the ones that go through hell to get from one end of the story to the other.

I've seen the new covers, and they are GORGEOUS!! I can't wait to share them with you. Watch this space and YABooksCentral.com 4 Jan 2017!

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Flamecaster Holiday Giveaway

Winter is coming...and with it the winter holidays. Brighten this dark season with the gift of a good book. And if you choose to give Flamecaster, the first book in the Shattered Realms series, you will give and be gifted in multiple ways.

Everyone who orders Flamecaster from any retail outlet (local bookstore, chain bookstores, online, digital, audiobook) is eligible to enter the FLAMECASTER HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY.

The grand prize is your CHOICE of a box set of The Seven Realms paperbacks or The Heir Chronicles trilogy box set, plus a signed ARC of SHADOWCASTER, the second book in the Shattered Realms series. PLUS a writing journal with a note from ME to YOU in the front of it. Grand prize winners will also receive other swag, including a signed bookplate for your shiny bright copy of Flamecaster, signed bookmarks, a limited edition Flamecaster light-up pen, and your very own dragon necklace to show your dragon spirit.



The first 150  entries will receive a signed bookplate and other swag--just for entering--if you include your mailing address with your entry. 

All royalty income from these holiday sales will be matched by me and donated to the GREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK.  Because, you know, winter is coming. 


Here's how to enter:

1. PLEASE follow these directions. I'm not very good at following directions, either, but I need your help in order to get you properly entered because I don't have minions.
2. Send an email to cwchimapromo at gmail dot com. In the subject line, put HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY ENTRY
3. In the body of your email, include your name and snail mail address; which box set you prefer,  and how/if you would like your books to be personalized.
4. If you would like to receive a signed bookplate, bookmark, etc include your snail mail address.
5. Make sure I have the best email to contact you
6. THIS IS IMPORTANT: Attach an image of proof of purchase for your ordered book, whether it's an online receipt, a receipt from a store, an email confirmation of an order, a notarized statement from your local bookseller--whatever way you can show me you've placed an order.
7. Books must have been ordered/bought between November 1, 2016 and December 25, 2016 (in other words, previous sales excluded.) Deadline for entry: December 31, 2016.
7. This offer good only in the US and Canada.


Questions? Email me at that same address with the header HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY QUESTION




Wednesday, November 9, 2016

YALLFEST, CHARLESTON SC -- MY LAST EVENT THIS YEAR!

I'll be at Yallfest in Charleston SC this Friday and Saturday! Shake off those election blues and come PARTY with awesome YA authors! You'll find the complete schedule here! http://yallfest.org/schedule/

Friday, October 7, 2016

I'll be Hanging With Lots of Awesome Authors This Fall!

There's a certain crispness in the air that says its time for fall bookfests!! So empty out your mad money jar and lay in some reads for the cold season. Winter is coming, after all!


Cincinnati, OH
Books By the Banks
Come see me and 27 other YA Authors!
Saturday, Oct 15, 2016, 10-4 pm
Duke Energy Center
Cincinnati, OH 
http://www.booksbythebanks.org


Northern Ky
Teen Book Fest
14 FABULOUS YA Authors
Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 11-5 PM
Lloyd Memorial High School
Erlanger, KY
http://www.kentonlibrary.org/teens/nk-ya-fest

Wooster, OH
Buckeye Book Fair
Book Lovers' Paradise
Saturday, Nov 5, 2016 9:30-4 pm
Fisher Auditorium
http://www.buckeyebookfair.com 

Charleston, SC
Yallfest 2016
ALL YA -- ALL THE TIME!
70 (Count 'Em) YA Authors
Friday and Saturday Nov 11-12, 2016
Scads of YA authors, panels and more
More info coming soon!
http://yallfest.org

Thursday, September 29, 2016

My First Vote? Heartbreak and Redemption





My first vote? Heartbreak and redemption in the 70s.  rtvote.com/firstvote16  #firstvote16 Now, Kamie Garcia and Amie Kaufman: let us know about your first time!


Friday, September 16, 2016

SFWA Events Baltimore Bookfest

September 23-25, 2016
Baltimore Inner Harbor

Here’s the full SFWA schedule!

My Events

Saturday September 24
5-6 PM Second Breakfast and Snozzberries: Food in SF & Fantasy
Authors: Cinda Williams Chima, Lara Elena Donnelly, Scott Edelman, Anna Kashina, Fran Wilde, K. Ceres Wright

6-7 PM   Meet the Authors Party!

Sunday, September 25
12-1 PM Beyond the Hunger Games: YA SF & Fantasy
come find your new fave as our authors talk about the depth and breadth of Young Adult Literature. Authors: Cinda Williams Chima, Lea Cypess, Sarah Beth Durst, Kristen Lippert-Martin, Lois Metzger, Rysa Walker

2-3 PM Plucky, Snarky, & Sweet: Memorable Girl Characters in YA
Authors: Cinda Williams Chima, Lea Cypess, Sarah Beth Durst, Justina Ireland, Lois Metzger, Rysa Walker

4-5 PM Signing in SFWA Tent
Authors: Cinda Williams Chima, Damien Angelica Walters

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Will U Be At Dragoncon?? I Will!



DragonCon Schedule

Title: Gender Roles in YA Lit
Description: How are girls-and boys-typically portrayed in YA? What tropes do you love or hate? What's missing, and what does it mean to have a "strong female character"?
Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Cinda Williams Chima, Kathryn Hinds, Tamsin L. Silver, Danika Stone, Mary Weber)

-------------------
Title: Autograph Session:
Time: Sat 01:00 pm Location: International Hall South - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: S. Usher Evans, Cinda Williams Chima)

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Title: YA Lit Authors Juvenilia
Description: Some of your favorite authors read works they wrote when they were young, alas. Let the fanfic hilarity ensue.
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Mari Mancusi, Cinda Williams Chima, Tiffany Trent, Fran Wilde, Susan Dennard)


-------------------
Title: Reading: Cinda Williams Chima
Time: Sun 04:00 pm Location: Edgewood - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Cinda Williams Chima)

Title: In-Booth Signing
 Location: The Missing Volume Booth
Americasmart  building 2, Booth # 1301, 1303, 1400 & 1402
 Time: Sun 6:00 PM

They will have books for sale and I will have giveaways…I hope to see you there!

Monday, July 25, 2016

The Star-Crossed Han Alister

SPOILER WARNING: if you've not read Flamecaster, stop reading and put this aside until you have. Again: read Flamecaster  before you read this post. We’ll wait.
Don't say you were not warned. 


Ever since the release of the first novel in my Shattered Realms series, I've received feedback from loyal readers up in arms about something that happens early on to one of my own favorite characters--thief turned wizard consort Han sul'Alger. 
In Flamecaster, Han Alister is murdered while trying to save his son's life. 
         Readers who are new to the series took Han’s murder in stride. Bad things happen—that’s what creates conflict in story. 
         It’s my long-time readers who’ve cried foul. One loyal reader called it "gratuitous." Another predicted that his heart and soul would be crushed by my "brutal inky fist." Some thought it was an act of convenience, in order to make it easier for readers to move on, or a cheap emotional trick.
It didn't help that this happened in Chapter 2, before readers developed a relationship with Adrian, Lila, Jenna, and the others.
Even though, all along, the series has been presented as a stand-alone "spinoff" from the original, one that focuses on the next generation, some readers feel betrayed by the loss of a character they loved and planned to spend a lot more time with. 
In effect: You promised me a happy ending. No. Fair.
They are not appeased by the fact that Han and Raisa spent twenty-five mostly happy years together--years that did not make it onto the page, at least not yet. They are not moved by the argument that life goes on, and a happy ending is not a permanent condition of bliss, except in stories. But, in effect, that's what it seemed to be  until I wrote this next chapter. 
The worst part is that I knew what would happen, which is why it took me four years to get up the courage to write it. 
Some of you know that the first fiction I wrote set in the Seven Realms was an adult high fantasy series known as The Star-Marked Warder. Two of the main characters were teens--Adrian sul'Han and Jenna Bandelow. Adrian's parents, Han Alister and Queen Raisa ana'Marianna were adult characters in those stories. Han appeared only briefly, however, because one of the first things that happens is that he is murdered by assassins in the street, an event that has a profound effect on Adrian. 
At the time, this murder didn't take a huge emotional toll on me, because, after all, I did not know Han very well. It’s not murder and mayhem that puts us on the edge of our seats—it’s when characters we’ve come to know and love are at risk.
I’d written nearly 500,000 words set in that world when fate intervened in the form of a publication deal for The Warrior Heir, the contemporary YA fantasy that I was shopping at the time. I put my high fantasy stories aside, and wrote two more books in that series. 
I always intended to return to the Seven Realms, but found
I enjoyed writing for teens and wanted to continue to write for that audience. From experience with editors and readers, I knew that the stories I’d already written would required considerable revision.
It seemed easier at that point to start fresh. So I took the two adult characters, Han and Raisa, back to when they were teens, and wrote a prequel of sorts to the Star-Marked Warder. That became the Seven Realms series. 
In the process I grew to love Han and Raisa. Fiercely. The entire time I was writing about Han, I knew what would happen, in the same way that we know that our loved ones will die someday. I could live with it, as long as it was distant. But, now that I knew him, now that I’d heard his voice and shared his troubles and triumphs over four books, now that I’d experienced his dogged determination to find a path to happiness against all odds--I couldn't deal with carrying on with the story. 
So I didn’t. I wrote two more novels in my Heir Chronicles series and filled an entire folder with emails from Seven Realms readers asking for more.
What changed my mind is this: I loved the world I’d built and wanted to spend more time in it. I loved so many elements of the stories I’d written in those free times when I was not constantly working on deadline. While it needed extensive revision and reworking, I knew that the bones of a good story were there, complete with pirates and dragons and magemarked heroines.

At this point, the savvy reader might say, It’s your story—why don’t you change it? And I could. But Han’s murder has so much to do with what drives Ash and Alyssa through this series it seemed unfaithful to the story to make a change not to serve the story, but because I am a coward afraid of breaking my own heart—and the hearts of my readers.
         So I went forward, entrusting the story to Abby Ranger, an editor who’d worked on The Gray Wolf Throne and The Crimson Crown. Someone who would never allow me to take the easy way out.
I wanted to begin the story a year or two after the murder—so I would not have to witness it. Abby argued that readers deserved to be there, that these events that change lives need to be on stage, in scene, and not in the narrative. Something I’ve said myself in multiple writing workshops.       
A writer friend of mine tells me that I made a brave creative choice in what I did. If so, being brave sucks sometimes.
The truth is…sometimes the good die young. Sometimes the price of loving someone is the possibility of loss. Or, to paraphrase something Han Alister said as he lay dying in the street:
Tell her . . . tell her that having her . . . that being with her . . . that loving her . . . it was worth it.
It was worth it.

I hope that knowing Han, that spending time walking around in his skin through the pages of the Seven Realms – that it was worth the pain that follows. And I hope Han and Raisa’s children won’t let you down in their quest to make sense of a world that stole their father and sister from them.




Friday, June 24, 2016

Shadowcaster Cover Reveal

My agent says that this is his favorite cover yet. It's got some awesome competition, but it's definitely a contender. Sasha Vinogravida, the illustrator, and Erin Fitzsimmons, the designer, have outdone themselves.

As in Flamecaster, the central motif is a magemark, which is a kind of an amulet embedded in the skin of a handful of the gifted. It's still a mystery to those who carry them. All they know is that the Empress in the East is hunting them, and they'd better not get caught!

The landscape in the background is Chalk Cliffs, the queendom of the Fells's only deepwater port, where much of the action in Book 2 takes place.

I hope you like the cover as much as I do!

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Wanna Sneak Peek at Shadowcaster?

Shadowcaster may be my most stunning cover ever! If you'd like to see it on 6.20.16, a full week before its official reveal on 6.27.16, subscribe to my newsletter here  
No salesman will call!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Where I'll Be Summer Into Fall...

The tour for Flamecaster is over, Shadowcaster is basically done, and I'm working hard on Stormcaster, book 3 in the series. But I will be out and about, meeting readers, starting THIS WEEKEND!

Jackson, OH
Friday, Jun 10, 6-8 pm
Author Appearance and Signing
Jackson City Library
21 Broadway St.
Jackson, OH 45640

Pickerington, OH
Sat. Jun. 11, 2016, 10 am to 5 pm
Pickerington Teen Book Fest
Pickerington North High School
7800 Refugee Rd,
Pickerington, OH 43147

Akron, OH
Geekfest Mini Comic-Con
Saturday, August 6, 2016, noon to 4 pm
Akron-Summit County Library
60 S High St, Akron, Ohio 44326


DragonCon logoAtlanta, GA
Sep 2-5, 2016
DragonCon, details to follow
Dragoncon.org
Books By the Banks
Saturday, Oct 15, 2016, 10-4 pm
Duke Energy Center
Cincinnati, OH 
www.booksbythebanks.org


Northern Ky Teen Book Fest
Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 11-5 PM
Lloyd Memorial High School
Erlanger, KY
http://www.kentonlibrary.org/teens/nk-ya-fest

Buckeye Book Fair
Wooster, OH
Saturday, Nov 5, 2016 9:30-4 pm
Fisher Auditorium
http://www.buckeyebookfair.com 

Yallfest 2016
Charleston, SC
Friday and Saturday Nov 11-12, 2016
Scads of YA authors, panels and more
More info coming soon!
http://yallfest.org


Tuesday, April 26, 2016

CHICAGO IL and CARY NC and OH-HI-OH!

Well, my tour for #Flamecaster is winding down, but I wanted to make sure you knew about some upcoming events.  Then I'll be staying home writing STORMCASTER for a while...

Chicago Area
Thurs, April 28, 2016, 7:00 PM
Anderson's Bookshop Naperville
123 W Jefferson Ave,
Naperville, IL 60540
630-355-2665
Join me at this event!

Chicago Area
Apr. 29-May 1, 2016
Wild, Wild Midwest Conference
Chicago Marriott Naperville
1801 N Naper Blvd
Naperville IL 60561
I’ll be teaching intensives and breakouts at this regional SCBWI conference.

Cary, NC: CANCELLED!!!
DUE TO HAIL DAMAGE to the STORE
Monday, May 9, 2016 7-8:30 PM
Author Appearance and Signing
Barnes & Noble, Cary Commons

760 SE Maynard Cary, NC 27511
919-467-3866

Perry, OH
Tuesday, May 17, 2016, 8:30 am - 3 pm
YA Litcon 2016
Author panels, breakouts, autographing.
Perry High School
1 Success Blvd
Perry, OH 44081

Jackson, OH
Friday, Jun 10, 6-8 pm
Author Appearance and Signing 
Jackson City Library
21 Broadway St.
Jackson, OH 45640

Pickerington, OH
Sat. Jun. 11, 2016, 10 am to 5 pm
Pickerington Teen Book Fest 
Pickerington North High School
7800 Refugee Rd,
Pickerington, OH 43147
http://pickeringtonlibrary.org/teen-book-fest-2016/

Thursday, April 14, 2016

NEW! EVENT IN CARY, NC !!

Cary, NC: CANCELLED


My Author Appearance and Signing scheduled for Monday, May 9, 2016 7-8:30 PM has been cancelled due to hail damage to the Barnes&Noble store in Cary. 















Barnes&Noble, Cary Commons
760 SE Maynard Cary, NC 27511
919-467-3866
I'll be in North Carolina for a family event, and I thought, why not hang out with readers? I'll be signing Flamecaster and all my other novels. Hope to see you there!


Friday, April 8, 2016

Flamecaster UK Debut is 5 May 2016! Enter the UK-ONLY Preorder Giveaway!

 UK, have I ever told you what an Anglophile/Caledoniphile/Cambrophile/Hibernophile I am? I am English, I am a Scot, I am Irish, I am Welsh--the majority of my ancestors came from those places in the scepter'd isles very early on -- most likely in chains. My ancestors were the kind of people that realms wanted to get rid of, apparently.
Yet I can't help but feel that my roots, and my history, is there. I took an English literature through England when I was in college, and it absolutely changed my life. I am still mining those experiences today.
So, in honor of that connection, and in collaboration with Harper360, publisher of the international edition of Flamecaster, I am announcing a UK-ONLY PREORDER GIVEAWAY!

Anyone who preorders #Flamecaster from a UK bookseller (brick and mortar, on line, wherever  books are sold in the UK) is eligible to enter to win a signed PAPERBACK set of the UK edition of the Seven Realms series, plus a limited edition pen, temporary tattoo, Epic Reads bookmark and Epic Reads poster. Since the Shattered Realms series is a stand-alone spinoff of the Seven Realms series, it will give you the chance to build a complete collection.



DO NOTE:
Giveaway open to residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland
Must be ordered from a UK retailer.
Entries must be received by 4 May 2016
Books will be signed using bookplates
Need a link to a UK retailer? Here's Amazon UK to start with amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/1WhoRgq


Here's how to enter:

1. PLEASE follow these directions. I'm not very good at following directions, either, but I need your help in order to get you properly entered because I don't have minions. 
2. Send an email to cwchimapromo at gmail dot com. In the subject line, put UK PREORDER GIVEAWAY ENTRY
3. In the body of your email, include your name and snail mail address and how/if you would like your books to be personalized.
4. If you would like to receive a signed bookplate, bookmark, etc include your snail mail address. 
5. Make sure I have the best email to contact you
6. THIS IS IMPORTANT: Attach an image of proof of purchase for your preordered book, whether it's an online receipt, a receipt from a store, an email confirmation of an order, a notarized statement from your local bookseller--whatever way you can show me you've placed a preorder
7. Questions? Email me at that same address with the header PREORDER GIVEAWAY QUESTION




Thursday, April 7, 2016

EVENT CORRECTION MYSTERIOUS GALAXY SAN DIEGO

The incorrect address was listed for the Mysterious Galaxy event this Saturday in San Diego. Here is the correct information:

    Tuesday, April 5, 2016

    WE HAVE WINNERS OF THE FLAMECASTER PREORDER GIVEAWAY!!

    I've had a super response to this giveaway -- thank you so much for joining in! We have randomly selected two winners!


    The winner of the Seven Realms Hardback (US edition) signed set is BRENDA GRAY of FT WORTH, TX!

    The winner of the Seven Realms UK edition signed set is KAELA ESHENBRENNER of Henderson, NV!

    Congratulations, Brenda and Kaela. If you didn't win, don't despair. Every single one of you will receive a swag pack including a signed bookplate, bookmarks, and temporary tattoos. All of these prizes are winging their way to you as I write this.

    I hope you will ALL enjoy Flamecaster. And, whatever you do, keep reading!

    Tuesday, March 29, 2016

    Coal Miner's Grand-Daughter

    P.D. James once said that "All fiction is autobiographical"  ("and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.”

    I think that's true. Where else do we get unique material but from our own lives--the people we meet, the experiences we have, the places we've been--and the stories handed down through family.

    Many people believe that fantasy writers draw on some (drug or psychosis-fueled?) inner well of make believe in order to create fantastical stories. I've had more than one talented writer tell me, "I could never write fantasy." Sometimes this is accompanied by a kind of shudder that tells me that the tagline is, "and I would never want to."

    I find that certain elements of my own story worm their way into my fiction again and again. It's not an intentional thing. Stories suffer when writers set out to teach a lesson or prove a point or make readers feel this way or that way. I never set out with an agenda. But when I'm staring at a blank screen with a deadline in front of me, I tend to gravitate toward certain kinds of characters and certain themes.

    My grandfather is third from left
    For instance, transformation stories have always given me hope. I'm the daughter of a truck driver, the granddaughter of a coal miner turned factory worker, and the great-great granddaughter of a man who worked in the iron furnaces of Appalachian Ohio. My ancestors were scrappy people who worked hard, lived hard, and died young. They also told stories.

    Like how my grandmother's sisters owned a honky-tonk bar by the roadside and played banjo and fiddle in a hillbilly band. Or Uncle Vinnie Nash who used to steal his wife's shoes so he could go out and dance with other women. Like how my great-grandfather got drunk and went to the barn and was kicked by a horse, and he died. Or my great uncle who got drunk and set fire to himself and he died. Or my great-uncle Claude who was killed in a slate fall when he was forty-one years old.

    The women were strong -- they had to be! Like my several times removed cousin who filed a paternity suit in 1871 against her employer's brother. Despite being called into court, where she was quizzed about relations with other men and forced to describe every time they "did" it, she won her suit. Strong women populate my stories--women of whom little is expected, who accomplish much.

    Some people are born to privilege, and squander that opportunity. Others are born to fail, and find a way to succeed. I'm intrigued by how some people change and survive, while others don't. In my Seven Realms series, the streetlord Han Alister finds ways to repurpose the skills he learned on the mean streets of the Fellsmarch slums to survive among enemies in a ruthless court.

    Readers of my fantasy stories might notice that coal mines and miners show up repeatedly. In the Heir Chronicles, set in contemporary Ohio, one of the characters is trying to protect her Appalachian mountain home from a mining company that wants to "mountain-top" it in order to access the veins of coal underneath. In Flamecaster, the first novel in my Shattered Realms series, one of the characters is a blaster in a coal mine who uses those skills as a saboteur fighting against the oppressive Ardenine empire.

     I'm a first generation college graduate. I've never stopped transforming myself. I've worked hard, I've been lucky, and I've done better than I ever could have imagined. And yet I've never lost my inbred mistrust of "the man" and the feeling that I'm just a slate-fall away from disaster. Those are the kind of characters I write about. Those are the kinds of stories I tell.  Welcome to a world where survival and transformation stories have   an overlay of magic.

    Welcome to the Shattered Realms.